30+ of the best afternoon tea ideas
An afternoon tea is the perfect excuse to drink tea and eat lots of cake. Here's 16 of our favourite afternoon tea recipes. Enjoy.
What's not to love about a spot of afternoon tea? You get to eat plenty of cake! Afternoon tea is second only to brunch, when it comes to great food ideas.
It's also the perfect way of celebrating a special occasion, whether Mother's Day or even the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.
Afternoon tea can be as simple as you like - some well-prepared sandwiches (crust cut off, if you prefer) and one classic cake, such a lemon drizzle cake, will do.
We love classic cucumber sandwiches because they are so light. We make ours using unsalted butter and thick white bread. We also add cream cheese with chopped mint mixed in for extra freshness and then add cucumber slices on top.
And if you fancy fully committing to the theme you can create everything from macarons to choux pastry for eclairs.
We love mini cakes such as these lemon and thyme loaves but for something easier, we recommend a tray bake, simply sliced up into small squares such as our coffee and walnut cake traybake or even try our recipe for Jaffa Cake traybake which is just like the famous treat.
And to drink - you could try a perfect jug of Pimm's, with cucumber, mint, strawberries and orange slices, or you could opt for a refreshing glass of lemon iced tea.
If that sounds like more work then you have time, then you can always order afternoon tea from our list of the best afternoon tea delivery services.
Three-ingredient apple tarts - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
So delicious and impressive, your guests will never know you took shortcuts! These taste great with a ball of vanilla ice cream or some pouring cream.
Recipe: Three-ingredient apple tarts
Rhubarb and Custard Éclairs - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
A twist on the classic rhubarb and custard boiled sweets but perfect for afternoon tea.
Recipe: Rhubarb and Custard Éclairs
Candy Cane Macarons - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
These bite-sized treats are a bit fiddly but well worth it in terms of wow factor and flavour.
Recipe: Candy Cane Macarons
Lemon drizzle cake - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
This amazingly soft and delectable vegan cake is dairy free and egg free, but you’d never know. For an everyday treat, you can make this lemon drizzle without halving it and sandwiching with the curd, if you like
Recipe: Lemon drizzle cake
Sultana scones - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
For the softest scones, handle the dough as lightly as you can.
Recipe: Sultana scones
Fancy Chocolate biscuits - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
These chocolate biscuits are great for an impromptu afternoon tea.
Recipe: Fancy chocolate biscuits
Mini coffee hazelnut eclairs - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
Once you’ve tried home-made éclairs, you will never look back.
Recipe: Mini coffee and hazelnut eclairs
Easy Chocolate Cupcakes - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
These yummy chocolate cupcakes are simple to make and only take 35 minutes
Recipe: Easy Chocolate Cupcakes
Coffee and Walnut Cake - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
We gave this classic combination a flavourful twist with ground cafetière coffee and icing in the cake mixture
Recipe: Coffee and Walnut Cake
Peanut butter and carrot quarters, sandwiches - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
To make devilled egg rolls, add some mild curry paste to the mayonnaise and omit the cress.
Try these with... Classic crab sandwiches, Peanut butter and carrot quarters
Recipe: Egg and cress rolls
Lemon iced tea - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
Best served icy cold, this refreshing drink is sure to become a favourite.
Try this with our Cheesy biscuits
Recipe: Lemon iced tea
Honey and orange madelines - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
Delicate sponges with a real orange kick. What could be better?
Recipe: Honey and orange madeleines
Lemon poppy seed cake - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
A true afternoon tea classic – buttermilk gives this cake extra body and moisture.
Sausage rolls - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
If you don’t like sage, replace it with chopped fresh parsley or wholegrain mustard.
Recipe: Sausage rolls
Lemon poppyseed cake - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
Made with yogurt, this failsafe Lemon and poppyseed bake is easy to master and a true classic.
Recipe: Lemon poppyseed cake
Classic custard creams - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
These biscuits frequently top polls of the nation’s favourites.
Recipe: Classic custard cream
Strawberry and cream jelly - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
Reminiscent of childhood, a tower of wobbling jelly is sure to bring a smile to everyone’s face.
Cucumber finger sandwiches - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
The classic cucumber sandwich is a must for afternoon tea
Recipe: Cucumber finger sandwiches
Salmon sandwich stacks - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
These decadent tall sandwich stacks are just the thing to get your party going.
Recipe: Salmon sandwich stacks
Iced rings - best afternoon tea recipes 2022
Just the thing to serve at a birthday or tea party.
Recipe: Iced rings
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
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